TIOGA – For efforts to optimize stroke care and eliminate rural health care outcome disparities, Tioga Medical Center received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Rural Recognition Gold award.

The American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health, recognizes the importance of health care services provided to people living in rural areas by rural hospitals that play a vital role in initiation of timely evidence-based care. For that reason, all rural hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines-Stroke are eligible to receive award recognition based on a unique methodology focused on early acute stroke performance metrics, according to the association

“We are proud that our team at Tioga Medical Center is being recognized for the important work we do every day to improve the lives of people in northwest North Dakota who are affected by stroke, giving them the best possible chance of recovery and survival,” said Jamie Eraas, Tioga Medical Center president and CEO, in a news release.. “As a hospital in a rural community, we deal with characteristics, such as extended interfacility transportation times and limited staffing resources WE’ve made it a goal to make sure those hurdles do not affect the standard of care our stroke patients receive. Rural communities deserve high quality stroke care. I’m proud of our team for their commitment to stroke care excellence and this achievement.”

“Patients and health care professionals in northwest North Dakota face unique health care challenges and opportunities,” said Dr. Karen Joynt Maddox, co-author on the American Heart Association’s presidential advisory on rural health, in the release. “Tioga Medical Center has furthered this important work to improve care for all Americans, regardless of where they live.”